 |
Turkey lobbies for rights of migrants in Europe
A number of Council of Europe reports have chided the EU for not living up to well-established international standards regarding migrant communities after concerns were raised by several countries, including Turkey. Turkish deputies have lent their support in drafting these reports, successfully pushing for inclusion of terms that advocate the rights of these minority communities.
For example, rapporteur Doris Fiala of Switzerland criticized EU members for failing to implement mechanisms to ensure the rights of migrant communities in a report issued in April by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“Despite the integral monitoring mechanisms of several of the Council of Europe legal instruments and the many international endeavours calling on states to strengthen the rights of migrants through adhesion and implementation of relevant international treaties, these attempts have been far from successful,” she said in the report.
These treaties include the 2000 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which has been ratified by only 30 states, including just four Council of Europe member states (Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey) and no EU countries. The report said, “It is also regrettable that the EU pays insufficient heed to the existing frameworks elaborated by the Council of Europe.”
In another PACE report issued by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, rapporteur Göran Lindblad of Sweden clearly points out that Turkey’s motive is not the remittances earned by Turkish expats and migrants living in Europe. It says the inflows of remittances play a minor role in most Western European countries, where the share of remittances in gross domestic product (GDP) is generally less than 1 percent; Turkey’s share was 0.2 percent of GDP in 2008.
There are an estimated 70 million migrants and refugees in Europe, corresponding roughly to one in every seven people. Today, around 4.5 million Turks live in Europe in a diverse community scattered throughout the continent. Some are well integrated while others are trying hard to integrate without much success. Some have given up on the idea of integration because some European countries impose integration as a smokescreen for assimilation.
Fiala also draws attention to the fact that too many migrants, asylum seekers and refugees fall victim to discrimination, exploitation and abuse. “Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers continue to be among the most vulnerable persons in society. … Migrants and asylum seekers are also frequent targets of hate speech, harassment and violence. They are often unfairly blamed for crime and economic difficulties, and are subjected to widespread discrimination,” she said in the report.
In a question addressed to Micheline Calmy-Rey, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and chairperson of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe during Monday’s session of PACE, John Greenway of the UK asked whether she would agree that the “Council of Europe should emerge from the reform process with an approach that puts the human rights of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons at the heart of our policy.” He specifically mentioned Russia and Turkey as countries most interested in resolving issues on migrants.
In response, the Swiss minister said the Council of Europe should continue its work to improve the human rights and integration of migrants. “This was also part of the Council of Europe’s action to combat discrimination. The Council of Europe’s work should have maximum visibility and impact and be sure not to duplicate the work of other organizations,” she said.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| EKREM DUMANLI |  |
||
| When a call for fairness and reason finds acceptance | |||
| ŞAHİN ALPAY |  |
||
| Uludere, test case for democracy in Turkey | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| Taking lessons from previous experiences with the military | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| ÖMER TAŞPINAR |  |
||
| A new phase in Syria? | |||
| İHSAN DAĞI |  |
||
| Turkish foreign policy: Time for a re-evaluation | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| The 1960 coup: a final test for democracy | |||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
